LOST IN THE LEVEE
So stupefied was Elsie Welcome by her emotions as she fled from the Cafe
Sinister that it was not until her clothes were drenched that she
realized it had begun to rain. Even then she did not halt and seek
shelter. Her numbed brain knew only one thing--that she must get away
from Druce and the place of sin to which he had brought her.
Up to the time of her last interview with her husband she had been living
in a dream; now that dream had turned into a nightmare. But the
nightmare, she at last realized, was reality. The veil of deception Druce
had woven around her had been torn away by his own brutal words. She had
come to feel a vague terror of the man. As for the Cafe Sinister, her
whole nature revolted against it.
It was an hour before sunset. The sullen houses about her were beginning
to show signs of life. Here and there a door opened and a man or woman
stepped quickly out with rapid glances up and down the street. There was
no loitering. They went their way quickly, always with a half furtive
look over the shoulder.
As the girl reached a corner she found at last that she was too exhausted
to go farther. Her clothes dripped. She sought an entrance way for
shelter. A tall girl in a broad hat with showy plumes was just coming out
of the door. She looked at Elsie's tear stained face and stopped.
"What's the matter, girlie?" There was sympathy in her voice.
"Nothing. Can you tell me where this number is?" She produced a card on
which Druce's "aunt" at their last interview had written the address of a
woman from whom she could get work.
The tall girl glanced at the slip of paper.
"It's just over there, two doors from that corner," she said. Elsie
turned to cross the street. The tall girl stood still regarding her
thoughtfully. Suddenly she seemed to reach a decision. She darted forward
and stopped Elsie.
"It's none of my business, kid," she said, "but what do you want of
Mother Lankee?"
Elsie looked at her in surprise. "Why," she said pitifully, "I expect to
get work there."
"Do you know the kind of work Mother Lankee would ask you to do?"
"I don't know, but I'm willing to do anything."
"Anything?" repeated the tall girl.
"Why, yes. I've got to the point where I can't afford to be particular."
The tall girl laid her hand on Elsie's arm.
"What is your name?"
"Elsie Welcome."
"Where do you live?"
"On South Tenth street."
"You come from down state?"
"How did you know?"
"It's written all over you. What man brought you here?"
The question surprised Elsie and brought back memory of her sorrows. She
did not answer. Her eyes filled with tears.
"Come, kid," said the tall girl, cheerfully, "get hold of yourself. Now,
listen! You stay away from Mother Lankee. You're hungry, ain't you,
dearie? You come with me and we'll get something to eat."
Elsie was too tired to resist and, instinctively, she trusted this tall
girl with her assumption of guardianship. Together they crossed the
street and entered the rear room of a saloon. Three men sat near the
entrance playing cards. They looked at the two girls, inspecting Elsie
narrowly and nodding carelessly at her companion. The girl took seats at
a distant table.
"What do you want, Lou?" inquired one of the men, getting up from the
table.
"Not you," retorted Lou curtly. "Send one of your waiters here with a
plain lemonade, a glass of milk and some of that beef stew."
"Milk, eh?" said the man, "and lemonade. On the wagon again, Lou?"
"Run along now," returned the girl. "If you keep on asking questions
someone is going to tell you lies."
The man went into another room, spoke to someone there and rejoined the
card players. In a few moments a negro waiter appeared with the viands
Lou had ordered.
Elsie began to eat famishedly. The other girl watched her approvingly.
"Go to it, girlie," she advised. "I know how you feel. I've been hungry
myself."
She sipped her lemonade until Elsie had finished. Then, as though it had
not been interrupted, she resumed the conversation they had begun in the
street.
"The same old game," she said cynically. "You came to Chicago because you
loved him. He strung you along--" Her glance fell on Elsie's wedding
ring. "You fell for that 'I do take thee' thing. Then he shook you. Is
that right, girlie?"
Elsie shook her head. A stupor due to the food and the reaction from her
nervous and physical exhaustion came over her. She felt too languid to
grapple with the problem of existence.
The tall girl arched her eyebrows in surprise.
"He didn't shake you? Then why--"
"I couldn't do what he wanted me to do," murmured Elsie. She felt her
face flushing and she dropped her head. "He wanted me to--to--"
The other interrupted her sharply. "You needn't say it--I know." She
gripped the table in sudden anger. "One of these dogs--eh?"
Elsie stared at her blankly. The old sense of forlornness, of being alone
and uncared for, returned to her.
"I don't know what you mean," she faltered.
"What was his name?"
"Druce," gasped Elsie.
"Druce, eh?" replied the tall girl, as though the name had opened a whole
vista of understanding. "Druce? Well, look out for him, girlie. He'll
hound you from one end of the town to the other until he gets you. That's
his business."
"He always said he was a dealer in live stock."
The tall girl laughed scornfully. "Live stock!" she jeered. "Did he get
away with that? Well, that's what he is--a dealer in human live stock, a
trafficker in women, one of the oldest professions in the world--and the
dirtiest. Live stock! That's what he calls girls like you and
me--cattle!"
For a long moment Elsie sat staring at her companion. The last prop of
her faith in the man who had married her was crumbling. She could not
give up this last illusion of Druce's faithfulness without a struggle.
The blood flamed to her cheeks and she started to her feet.
"I don't believe it," she cried in anguish.
To her surprise, Lou made no reply. She merely regarded her pityingly.
This was the last blow. Elsie burst into a flood of tears.
"I know you don't believe it," said Lou gently. "It's hard for anyone who
is decent to believe that men can fall so low. Why, nobody believes it!
The men who run the city government don't believe it, the law makers
don't believe it, the vice commission, doesn't believe it. The only
people who believe it are the people who, at their own bitter cost, know
it--and this girl Mary Randall."
She paused.
"Look at me, kid," she went on. "I was sold for $175. Sold, do you get
that? SOLD! And I came high. They buy and sell 'em in this district every
day for fifty. Yes, I was prime stock. They brought me up here from
Kentucky. Kentucky Lou, price $175--a choice article." She broke off,
laughing bitterly, and summoned a waiter.
"Whisky," she said, "and be quick with it."
She waited until the waiter returned without speaking. Then she tossed
off the glass of fiery liquid like a man.
"Now," she said, resuming the conversation abruptly, "let me tell you
what you are up against. You can't go home, your pride won't let you. And
if you wanted to go home you haven't the money. Druce has turned you
loose in this district to starve and when you've starved enough you'll
come back to him."
Elsie shook her head.
"Yes, you will, girlie. You don't know it now, but I know it and Druce
knows it. And when you come back you'll do as Druce wants you to do,
because you'll know that if you don't you'll have to starve again. It's
against human nature to starve. You'll go back to him. And when you do
and Druce is tired of you he'll sell you for what you are, cattle--his
kind of cattle!"
"Oh no!" wailed Elsie. "Not that. Surely in this great city there are
places where a friendless girl can find protection!"
Kentucky Lou laughed again but the laugh contained no mirth.
"I thought that too, kid," she said more gently. "And perhaps--perhaps--if
you could find the right people and they believed you they might help you.
But they didn't help me. I went to one of these institutions that
advertise to help friendless girls. Yes, I went to them. I had my baby in
my arms. And they began by shooting me full of questions that I'd rather
die than answer. And me perishing for a kind word and a slap on the
back--just something to keep me fighting to be good. They gave me tracts,
and sermons and advice. And then my baby died and I didn't care what
happened. I guess I went crazy after that. 'It's hell, anyway,' I says,
'so here goes.' And here I am."
While she spoke Kentucky Lou was fumbling with her dress. Her hand
reappeared in a moment with a five dollar bill. She shoved the bill into
Elsie's hand.
"Take that," she said, "and go. Go as far as you can. It's all I can do
for you and it may save you. I think you'll come back to Druce but I'm
taking a gambler's chance."
She took Elsie by the arm, half lifted the stupefied girl to her feet and
led her to the door. Impelled by a terror which both blinded and choked
her Elsie fled into the gathering darkness without even pausing to thank
her benefactor.
Lou returned to the saloon and ordered more whisky.
"Lou," inquired one of the men, "who's you're friend?"
Lou regarded the questioner calmly.
"That?" she replied, "Oh, that's a little lost lamb turned loose in a den
of you human hyenas."